Beware: Drinks Stall Took Back Leftover Ice

[chenwj]

I thought my relative’s story of a local thai chain restaurant reusing the pineapple husk to serve pineapple fried rice is already scary enough.

[Irrelevant]

mabaker:

This happened on Mar 28. An old lady was collecting empty drink cans. There was a partially-filled blue plastic cup of ice. She poured the remaining ice from another cup to top up this one, and drained the excess water from the cup. She left the other plastic cups and plates on the table for the cleaners to clear. She took the cup of ice to the drinks stall vendor, who accepted it and gave her a coin.

Ma'am / Sir

I have several questions for you because your story sounds like an urban legend.

1. Are you an eye witness or is this a story you heard from someone?
2. Is the old lady known to have a mental condition?
3. In Singapore's kind of weather, ice that has been served will be largely melted. How many cups of leftover ice were needed to fill one cup?
4. How did she drain the excess water from the cup?
5. How many cups of ice was returned to the vendor?
6. Did she use ice from other vendors as well?
7. What did the vendor do to the cup of ice after it was returned?

[blueblue]

I would think it is easy to drain water from cup. Just use hands to cover cup and flip it.

[limlim]

Everyone should do their part. If there’s opportunity, record it and post on stomp/forums.


Vigilance is our defence against unscrupulous/unethical businessman.

Create awareness.

Improve education.

[limlim]

once I went to order takeaway coffee, actually saw what the workers do to the collect cups/glass. They put the cup under a running tap, then pour away the water, and then put on a tray ready to use. There is no proper rinsing not even to say wash with detergent at all.


If there were to be outbreak or sars, h1n1 etc, the virus would definitely spread like wild fire.

[limlim]

blueblue:

I would think it is easy to drain water from cup. Just use hands to cover cup and flip it.

And obviously the hand would come into contact with the ice. And what was the hand doing prior to such contact? if it is a cleaner, it may be dirty table cloth or bloom, dustpan or rubbish. So all the bacteria,germs, viruses would be transferred to the ice, waiting for the next unsuspecting victims.

And, the same cloth that is use to wipe birdshit off chairs, tables would be use to wipe other tables.

Some hawker are just CMI in terms of common sense..

Saw some hawkers, put on plastic glove handle food, and then when they handle money, never take off the glove! what's the point of wearing gloves then?

Some businesses are better off going bust.. if they cannot delivery proper duty of care to customers/consumers.

[jtoh]

I observed a hawker using her gloved hand to collect money. I asked her why's she wearing a glove to handle food and using that same gloved hand to handle money. She replied that the glove is to protect her hand. :siao: And she was serious about it. Guess she was never educated about the use of the glove.

[Nebbermind]

A Guangzhou lady who used to run eateries there but now a sg citizen complained that our cleaning of used utnesils in food courts and centres is really substandard. She said that even in Guangzhou, they will rinse with hot water and wash very cleanly unlike here where they just dump everything into a bucket of soapy water and then going thru the motion in scrubbing and rinsing.

[mabaker]

Woah, thanks to everyone for sharing. Make us more aware of what to look out for. As is rightly put, \"vigilance\" is key. It is the reason why I had not named the stall. We are not out to shame the specific individuals (no matter how much they deserve it), but to create awareness.


The other reason is that NEA is supposedly continuing to make checks. If there are more than one stall doing this, they will all probably lie low now, not knowing if they are the target. NEA has all the details including the exact time, identification of the persons, etc. As we all know, hawkers can sense the presence of the officers from a mile away. The public can help by keeping an eye, or better yet capture a video of any such acts.

The old lady probably thought it was alright to simply put all the ice together, and pass it off as a full cup. And yes, she used her hand to cover the top and poured away the excess water. Let us not fault these old people for making money wherever they see opportunities. Our concern should be the hawkers who resort to questionable practices to maximize profits, despite knowing all the health risks.

It is understandable that people will be skeptical about a reported case unless they see it with their own eyes. Which is why such a forum is important, to share our collective observations so that we will keep our eyes opened. Not to worry if we don't. Aside from the eewwwwsss and yuuuucks, and unless in the most unfortunate instances, we are probably not going to die from drinking other people's saliva. :yikes:

And I hope hawkers do not justify recycling of whatever - food, drinks, straws, sauce, gravy - by claiming that they are doing it for the environment and to save Gaia. :xedfingers:

[magiccastle]

Recycling of used straws by the fruit juice stall really happened in my JC many years back. The stall holder actually washed the straws and recycled them to cut cost.. We complained to the principal and he interfered to stop the stall holder from doing that. during that period, we actually stopped patronizing the stall and his business was actually affected. :evil: